Kindred Spirits
by Pastel Shades
Summary: Annabelle and Elizabeth Mason were on vacation in a small Georiga RV park when the world went to hell. Banding together with other surviors proves to be harder than either woman thought. Relationships are forged and promises are broken. Can they survive the zombies? Each other? Will they find hope and peace in the arms of two hard-headed men? Daryl/OFC, Merle/OFC. -On Hiatus
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**_** I own nothing from The Walking Dead. I do however own Annabelle and Elizabeth Mason.**_

**Authors Note: So this is my first attempt at Walking Dead fan fiction. It's going to be a Daryl/OFC and Merle/OFC story. The story starts with season one and goes from there. It's going to take a while for my OC's to hook up with the Dixon brothers, but it will happen. Hopefully everyone will give it a chance. I will try to update as often as I can. This will be the only time I add a date to my story. It's just a random date I pulled out of thin air. I just wanted to give a reference to a date for when I think the ZA started. **

**YAY I have a beta reader! MsWolfGirl is the best! Thanks for taking the time to beta my stuff and make it better than it was before.**

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**Chapter 1:**

**April 15, 2010**

The world went to hell in a hand basket in a matter of days. The dead rose up and started feeding on the living and Annabelle Mason watched it all happen from her camper. At first she thought it was just a colossal joke gone horribly wrong, but as the days passed she came to realize that it wasn't a joke and that the world as she knew it was at an end.

Ana wasn't sure she was cut out for this new world. She had never been one to go camping, that was her sister. The closest she ever got to camping was staying in a Motel 8. She had never been an outdoorsy girl, even after growing up on a farm in Ohio. She hated the bugs and the dirt, but there she was in a camper somewhere in Georgia all because she couldn't tell her sister no. She still hated the bugs and the dirt even after two weeks living in a camp full of nothing but bugs, dirt, and sweaty people.

She still wasn't sure how she had let her sister convince her to pull up stakes from the RV Park they were in and make the 150 mile trip into Atlanta. They had been safe in the RV Park. The infection hadn't reached there yet, but Eliza had been so scared and wanted to go to the refugee center. Now they were stuck with a bunch of people they didn't know and as far as Ana was concerned didn't care to know.

The only people that Ana could stand, besides her sister, were the Dixon brothers. They were uncouth, dirty, and loud, but they were honest. Merle told it like it was and Daryl didn't talk much at all, but he could hunt and brought back fresh meat every night. Neither brother was hard on the eyes either, which was a plus. The only thing Ana didn't like about the Dixon's, was the way Merle was high most the time.

When he was sober he was just a redneck with a nasty mouth, but when he was high he was a redneck with a nasty mouth and a mean streak a mile wide. That didn't bother Ana much as she had grown up with men like Merle Dixon her entire life. Hell, her ex-fiancé when he was sober was like Merle when Merle was high, and like Ed Peletier when he was drunk.

Shaking her head to clear the memories away, Ana walked down the steps of her camper and back into the hustle and bustle of the camp. She smiled as her sister walked over and plopped down on the step of the camper.

"What's going on today?" asked Ana as she sat down next to her sister. Eliza shook her head and held up a couple of cleaned and skinned rabbits.

"Let me guess, Merle Dixon was feeling generous and cleaned them for ya? God knows he wouldn't do that for anyone else here in camp." Ana said with a small laugh as she took the rabbits from her sister.

Eliza blushed as Ana pulled out a knife and started cutting the rabbits up into smaller pieces to throw into a stew for lunch.

"Still crushing on Merle there sis?" asked Ana as she nudged Eliza playfully.

"NO!" Eliza said a little too loudly. Ana just chuckled and took the bowl of rabbit meat back into their camper.

Eliza looked around the camp and noticed Amy and Andrea heading down to the quarry to do laundry. Eliza stood up and headed into the camper to grab their dirty laundry.

"I am going down to the quarry to wash our clothes. Got anything you need washed?"

"Yeah it's in the bag in the back. Want me to come with?"

"Why not, maybe we can jump in after we're done." Eliza said as she grabbed both bags full of dirty clothes. Ana grinned and cleaned her knife and slid it back into the holder on her belt. They walked down to the lake in silence, passing the elder Dixon brother on the way.

"Well hey there sugar tits. Where ya going?"

"To wash clothes. Got anything that needs washed?" Ana asked as she stopped in from of him while, Eliza kept walking toward the quarry. Merle shook his head as Daryl stalked over.

"Well how about you then? Need anything washed?" asked Ana as she turned to Daryl. He just shook his head as well. Ana shrugged as she turned away from the Dixon brothers and headed after her sister.

After reaching the quarry Ana and Eliza sat next to the rest of the women and started to wash their clothes. The other women were talking about what they might miss in the future.

"What will you miss?" asked Amy.

"Music, dancing, and hanging out with my friends back home." said Eliza with a sad smile as her eyes drifted off towards the other side of the quarry as memories from home took over her mind.

"Cheesy pickup lines." said Ana. Everyone collapsed into laughter at that, which brought Carol's husband Ed down to investigate.

"What's going on here? This ain't no social gathering. No need to be talking. Just get back to work." He said as he glared at them.

"Who pissed in your corn flakes this morning?" Eliza mumbled just loud enough for Ana and Amy to overhear, which sent both girls back into a fit of giggles. Ed turned to both women with a stony look on his face which only made them both laugh even harder.

He finally stalked back to his self-appointed post of watching his wife like a hawk from a nearby rock.

"Well that was fun." Ana said as she finally got herself under control. Everyone else agreed with her as they quickly finished the laundry and headed back up to the camp. As they walked by the Dixon brothers, Ana turned to Eliza with a grin as she nodded her head toward Daryl.

"Do you remember when I was in Boston about 12 years ago?" Ana asked as she turned to Amy and Andrea with a smile. Eliza nodded her head as a grin formed on her lips.

"Oh yeah. I remember that. Didn't you meet a couple of guys there? I know you were there a year, before you came home. Why did you come home?" Eliza said as they all reached the camper and went inside. They all sat down and Amy turned to Ana, "What's the story there?"

"Well the reason I brought it up is that Daryl Dixon looks like a doppelgänger for this Irish guy I met while living in South Boston." Ana said.

"What was that guy's name again sis?" Eliza asked.

"Murphy MacManus. Had a twin brother, Connor. I came home because of some bad things that went down, while I was there." said Ana with a wistful smile.

"Come tell us the story," Andrea said. "What happened while you were there?"

"Well technically, I'm not supposed to talk about it. Part of the deal I made with the FBI, but since the world went to shit; I doubt that it matters now." Ana said as she looked at the others.

"Oh now I have to know." Amy said as she eagerly leaned forward.

"Me too. I didn't know you got in trouble with the FBI." Eliza said.

"I didn't get in trouble with the FBI, but they were involved. Ok, you ready for a story that will blow your minds?" Ana said as she launched into the story about her year in Boston and her meeting of the notorious Saints.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Walking Dead. I do however own Annabelle and Elizabeth Mason. I am making no money off this story at all. I am just playing in Frank Darabont and Robert Kirkman's worlds. **_

**AN: I know this story has probably been done a thousand times before, but everyone please give it a chance. I hope after this chapter there will be a few more people reading this story. I know it's a slow start, but after this chapter we should be moving into the start of Season One. We will also see more of Daryl/Ana interaction and Merle/Eliza interaction. **

**Thanks again to MsWolfGirl for being my beta reader.**

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**Chapter 2**

Three weeks later and Annabelle was finally starting to feel more comfortable around more of the group. Shane still gave her a bad feeling, especially the way he treated everyone including Lori and her son Carl. Glenn was a sweet guy who risked his life once a week to get supplies from Atlanta. Dale was the grandfatherly type and Ana found herself growing close to him as he always had a great story to tell.

"Hey Eliza ever notice how Shane had the look of a predator in his eye every time he looks at anyone who talks to Lori and Carl? It's downright creepy at times." Eliza nodded her head as she looked at her sister.

"Sis you look like crap." Eliza said as she took in her sister's appearance. Ana's medium length brown hair was hanging limply in a curly, tangled mess, her blue eyes dull and lifeless. She had probably lost about ten pounds in the past 5 weeks, but still didn't look sick yet. Not like Lori, who looked like she would blow away with the first strong wind.

Ana chuckled and turned to Eliza, "Gee thanks, and you look just a fashion plate yourself now."

"Touché." said Eliza as she ran her fingers through her lank and limp brown hair, which was cut to her chin, but getting longer. Her green eyes still had some life to them, but they were getting duller every day. She'd lost about fifteen pounds since the world ended.

Ana stood up and headed over to Dale, passing by Daryl on her way. It was her turn on guard detail. She wasn't really looking where she was going and didn't notice the rock until she tripped over it. She would have fallen flat on her face if strong hands hadn't grabbed her upper arms and pulled her back against a rock hard chest.

"Oh shit! Thanks Daryl. That could have been really bad." Ana said as she craned her head around to look at the guy behind her. Daryl didn't answer just stared at her.

"Umm… can you let go now? I have to go. My turn for guard detail."

"Better get to it. Don't want Shane to get upset." said Daryl as he released her.

"Yeah he might get his panties in a wad." Ana quipped as she stepped away from him. Daryl just walked away.

"Ok then." muttered Ana as she watched Daryl walk away. She shook her head and walk over to Dale.

"You ok? I saw you nearly take a nasty spill." Dale asked as he handed Ana his rifle and she climbed to the top of his RV.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just my clumsy self. Daryl saved me. My knight in shining flannel." Ana said with a grin as she flopped down in the chair. Dale nodded as he walked away.

Watch duty was boring, but at least Ana was able to do something other than washing the clothes and cooking. Shane hasn't wanted to let her take a shift, until she proved she knew what she was doing. Ana grinned as she thought back to when she impressed both Shane and Merle.

* * *

_Two weeks ago:_

"_Now what I want you to do is check to see if a round is in the chamber. Like this." Shane said as she showed her the correct way. Ana just looked at him with wide-eyed, innocent look on her face as she nodded. Eliza buried her head in her arms as she stifled her laughter. Boy was Shane in for a huge surprise as Ana had been handling guns since she was a kid._

"_Now you try." He said as he handed the gun to Ana. She took it hesitantly and clumsily pulled back the slide and checked the chamber. _

"_Like that?" _

"_Yeah. That was really good. Now take the safety off and squeeze the trigger. Don't pull." Shane said as he pointed to a tree about 15 feet away._

_Ana flicked the safety off the gun as she got into a familiar position. She grinned as she quickly squeezed off three rounds in just a few seconds, not aiming for the tree Shane pointed to, but aiming for a tree further away. She quickly ejected the magazine, ejected the round in the chamber and flicked the safety back on as she handed it butt first back to Shane. He looked at her shocked as she walked away flashing a quick smile over her shoulder as she did._

_Merle walked over to the tree she was aiming at and whistled softly. She'd hit the tree all three times in tight formation. That in and of itself wasn't impressive, what impressed him was that the tree was 25 yards away from where she had been standing. _

"_Bet you weren't expecting that were ya Shane?" asked Eliza as she winked at Merle as she turned to follow her sister._

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Biting back a laugh Ana let her mind wander back to the before the end of the world. She had been working at a mom and pop store and trying to put the pieces of her life and heart back together after Ryan. He had broken her heart and stomped on the pieces before he left her two days before their wedding. Not only had he broke off the wedding and left her, he left her for someone ten years younger and 50 pounds thinner. Ana wiped the tears that started to fall as she shook her head to clear the thoughts from her mind.

Eliza wasn't sure what to do with herself since Ana would be on guard duty for several more hours. She looked around the camp and noticed Amy sitting by herself by the fire. She wandered over to her and flopped down beside her.

"What's going on?" asked Eliza. Amy shrugged as she poked the fire.

"Really, that much?"

"Only thing going on is the end of the world." Amy replied as she turned to Eliza. Eliza smiled as she looked out over the camp. She noticed Ed and Carol in their tent arguing. She watched in horror as Ed lashed his fist out and caught Carol in the face, knocking her down. Eliza wanted to run over to her, but didn't want to upset Ed any further.

"Did you see that? Someone needs to stop him before he kills her." Amy said as she started to stand up, but Eliza hand on her arm pulled her back down.

"It won't do any good. She's not ready to leave him and interfering will only cause her more pain. The only thing we can do is watch, wait, and hope he doesn't kill her before she's strong enough to leave him."

Amy looked at Eliza in disbelief at her words. "We can't let that happen. We need to tell someone. Shane? Dale? Morales? Hell, Merle even! Someone needs to stop him."

Eliza shook her head, "It won't do any good. Interfering will only anger him more and he'll just take it out on her even more then he is now. Pray she finds the courage to walk away. Trust me. I've seen this before."

"So nothing can be done? Nothing at all?"

"We can be there for her, without passing judgment on her for staying." Eliza said as she stood up and walked away from Amy and wandered over to, what the camp has deemed, 'the redneck zone' and sat down next to Merle. He looked at her for a minute before asking, "What's wrong there suga'?"

"Ed Peletier is a wife beating, egomaniacal son of a one legged whore. I hate men like him!" Eliza said as she stared into their fire.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Sorry this chapter took so long to get posted, but this chapter didn't want to get written. I have been struggling with it for days now. I'm not completely happy with it, but thought I'd post it anyway. I would LOVE some reviews on this story. Let me know if I should continue or just scrap this story. I know where I want to story to go and god knows it's not going where I originally thought it was going to go. **

**Pastel Shades**

**Thanks once again to MsWolfGirl for being my beta reader. **

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**Chapter 3**

"Why in the hell do you have to go on this trip Eliza?" Ana demanded as she watched her sister pack some supplies in her backpack and walk over to the group headed for Atlanta with Glenn.

"I don't really know. I just have a feeling that I need to go with them. Besides, more hands to bring back more supplies." Eliza said as she hugged her sister.

"Come back to me safe and sound. Promise me. I can't do this without you." whispered Ana as she clung tightly to her sister. Eliza nodded as she silently prayed that she could keep that promise. Ana let go of Eliza and looked over at the rest of the group, especially at Andrea. Andrea nodded her understanding at the silent plea to watch over Eliza. She silently asked Ana to watch over Amy as well.

Ana walked over to Amy and threw an arm around the younger woman. They waved as the group drove away. Lori walked over with Carl, "Want to go swimming? It's hot as blue blazes today. Would be a good time to let off some steam."

"What about the laundry?" asked Amy.

Lori shrugged, "We can do it tomorrow."

Both girls grinned and nodded. It had been awhile since they could relax for just a bit. All three women walked down to the quarry with Carl and joined the other women and children already in the water. Soon laughter and splashing could be heard to the dismay of Shane and Ed.

Meanwhile, back in Atlanta, Glenn had just saved some guy from a tank and brought him back into the department store they were holed up in. Andrea currently had her gun to his face, panicking about him getting them all killed when they heard gun shots coming from the roof.

"Merle, what in the hell are you doing?" asked Eliza as she stood watching him. He just turned to her and grinned.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel." He said with a laugh.

"You are going to get us all killed you know." She replied with a shake of her head. He shrugged and turned back to the street and started shooting again as the rest of the group ran out onto the roof. All of them yelling and talking over each other until Merle insulted T-Dog, who threw a punch, pissing Merle off even more.

He took matters in his own hands and laid a beat down on T-Dog and Morales, until Officer Friendly hit Merle with the butt of a gun and hand cuffed him to a metal pipe. There was more discussion and insults until Eliza glared at Merle, which shut him up.

"Who the hell is that?" asked Eliza as she turned to help T-Dog.

"Officer Rick Grimes."

"Welcome to Atlanta, Rick." said Morales as they looked down at the zombies congregating outside the department store.

"So, Officer. How the hell you planning on getting us back to camp?" Eliza asked as she jerked her head toward the zombies below them.

"I don't know yet, but I will find a way."

"Forgive me if don't hold my breath." mumbled Eliza as she flopped down on the hot roof next to Merle.

Everyone ignored her as they turned back to Rick, who noticed an abandoned construction site.

"There. They always have keys for the trucks on site. Usually in the trucks themselves. Glenn and I will go get the truck and everyone else, be ready to leave as soon as we get back."

"Great plan. One problem." Eliza said as she looked up at the group.

"What's that?" asked Rick.

"The geeks. How you planning on getting past them? They can smell you, ya know." Eliza said.

"They can smell us? We smell different to them?" Rick asked.

"They smell dead. We don't. Not hard to notice the difference." Andrea said. Rick nodded as he tried to think about how he was going to get them around this problem. He smiled as he headed for the door while everyone else stared at him.

"Hurry up. I got a plan. We need gloves and raincoats."

Everyone followed Rick except for Eliza, who had pulled a bottle of water out of her backpack.

"You coming?" asked Andrea.

"Nope. I'll wait here with the Redneck. I don't want to know what Rick has in mind. From the looks of his face, it won't be pleasant."

"Ok fine. We will be back up soon to get the tools and both of you." Andrea said as she walked through the door. Eliza took a long pull of water and handed the bottle to Merle.

"Why you still up here?" he asked as he handed the water bottle back after taking a drink.

Eliza shrugged as she answered, "I don't really know. I just know I'm not too sure about this new guy. He seems off."

Back at the quarry, everyone was cooled off and back to doing their daily tasks. Ana was just getting off guard duty and was headed over to Lori who was by the fire.

"Amy back from mushroom hunting yet?" Lori asked as Ana sat down next to her.

"Not yet. Hopefully soon." Ana replied as she looked around the camp. Amy finally made it back from her mushroom hunt and handed the bucket to Lori, who dumped the contents into a bowl as she stood up to go look for berries and nuts.

"Carl, stay where Dale can see you."

"Yes mom."

"You stay within shouting distance yourself Lori."

"Yes mom." muttered Lori as she headed into to the woods.

"Raise your hand if you don't think she's off berry picking." said Ana as she watched Lori walk away. Amy looked at Ana and then back at Lori and then back at Ana again, who was grinning and wiggling her eyebrows. A look of realization dawned on Amy's face as they both collapsed into a fit of giggles. Carol looked over at both of the woman and shook her head.

She didn't know why they were laughing at Lori going off to have a quickie with Shane. It wasn't her place to wonder about things like that. She was too worried about keeping Ed away from Sophia. She had seen the way he was looking at his little girl and it made her sick. She needed to worry about keeping Sophia safe, not worrying about everyone else and their problems.

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"Amy stop." Ana said as she stood in front of the pacing girl.

"They should have been back by now. What if something happened? What if they are dead?" Amy said as she resumed pacing.

"You'll kill yourself with what ifs?" Ana said as she gave up trying to stop Amy from fretting and wandered over to Dale and Jim, who were staring at the front of Dale's RV, muttering something about a radiator hose.

"She still worried?" asked Dale as he glanced over at Amy. Ana nodded as she leaned against the RV.

"How're you holding up? Your sister is out there to." asked Jim as he looked at her.

"I'm worried, but Eliza is strong. She can handle herself. She's not alone out there." said Ana as she tried to run her hand through her brown curls only to get frustrated when she hit several tangles. She was just turning to head for her camper, when a shrill wailing could be heard echoing through the hills surrounding the quarry.

Everyone gathered around the RV as a bright red sports car drove up with Glenn at the wheel. Amy immediately started peppering him with questions about Andrea as Shane was yelling for him to pop the hood so he could shut the alarm off. Shortly after Glenn got back to the quarry, a box truck pulled up and Andrea jumped out, running to hug her sister and reassure her that she was fine.

Morales hugged his family to him as T-Dog and Jacqui also got out of the truck. Everyone was asking how they got out of Atlanta.

"New guy got us out. Come out and meet everyone." Morales called to the man in the truck, who stepped out and looked around, catching sight of Shane and looking at him in disbelief.

"DAD!" yelled Carl as he ran to Rick as Lori looked on in shock. Rick picked Carl up and carried him over to Lori, who finally hugged her husband tightly. Ana looked around the group and noticed two people missing.

"Where are Eliza and Merle?" asked Ana as she kept hoping that Eliza would jump out of the back of the truck. Andrea looked at Ana and said, "We left them behind."

"WHAT?" yelled Ana as she rounded on Andrea. "You LEFT her there? You PROMISED me that you'd bring her back! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Calm down." Rick said as he looked over at Ana.

"CALM DOWN? WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" screamed Ana as she stalked up to Rick and slapped him. Lori grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her lightly.

"Get a hold of yourself. There is no need to go off on Rick. I am sure there is a reasonable explanation as to why they were left behind."

"It better be a great explanation." Ana said with a huff as she looked at each person expectantly.

"Merle Dixon was being an asshole. He nearly killed T-Dog, so Rick handcuffed him to the roof. We got surrounded by the walkers and Rick and Glenn risked their lives to save us. T-Dog went back for them both, but dropped the handcuff key when he tripped and it fell down a drain. Eliza wouldn't leave Merle behind. We tried to convince her, but she wouldn't budge." Jacqui said.

"I did chain and padlock the door. It's a narrow staircase. Only about half-dozen geeks could get against the door at one time. That's not enough to break through that chain and padlock." T-Dog said as he looked at Ana.

Ana shook her head as she stormed off to her camper and slammed the door shut. She couldn't deal with them anymore. It was typical, she should have known that she couldn't trust any of these people. They were just looking out for themselves. Just wait till Daryl got back from hunting. If they thought she needed to calm down, they had another thing coming. They hadn't seen nothing yet. Daryl was going to flip out on them all.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Here is chapter 4. Thanks to MsWolfGirl for beta reading. Please leave reviews as they make me want to write faster. Also please check out MsWolfGirl's Walking Dead story-Second Chances. It's a great story. Thanks to those who've left a review. Cookies for you.**

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**Chapter 4**

Eliza kicked the door in frustration. "Great! They chained the door shut! I can't break the door down. Having any luck with getting the cuffs off?"

"No. Get back over here and help me, suga'." Merle said as he motioned her over. Eliza walked over to him grabbing the tool bag as she did. She set the bag down and crouched next to it. Merle looked through the bag before pushing it away. Eliza smiled at him, "Nothing in there to help?"

Merle flipped her off as she laughed and pulled her backpack closer to her so she could pull out a protein bar and a bottle of water. She tore off the bar's wrapper and tore the bar in half, handing half of it to Merle. He nodded his thanks as he quickly ate his food. Eliza finished her food and opened the water bottle, draining half of it in just seconds. She handed it to Merle who finished it and handed it back to her. She turned to throw it into her bag after putting the cap back on.

She had just turned back to Merle when something hit the door behind them. They both turned to the door as it was slowly pushed open as far as it would go and several walkers looked at them through the crack. The walkers moaned as they caught the scent of the two humans on the roof. The walkers started to push at the door with more urgency as they wanted to get to some fresh meat.

Eliza turned back to Merle only to see him tying his belt around his lower arm. "What are you doing?"

"It's the only way we will get me out of these damn cuffs. I'm going to need your help." He said as he picked up the hacksaw and handed it to her. Eliza shook her head as she refused to take the saw. "I can't. Don't ask me to do this. I'll do anything else. Don't ask me to do this."

"You have too. I can't do it myself. I need your help." Merle said as he pushed the saw into Eliza's hand and guided her hand to his wrist. Eliza dropped the saw as tears filled her eyes. "I won't do this. I won't cut off your hand. There has to be another way. We can wait for Ana and Daryl. They won't leave us here. They will come back for us."

"We can't wait that long. Those things could break through that door. We need to get off this roof. Quit crying and pick that saw up and fuckin' do it." Merle said forcefully as he stared Eliza down. Eliza turned to the door and saw that there were several more walkers pushing at the door. She turned back to Merle and wiped her eyes clear as she picked the saw up and nodded to him. He nodded back at her as he gritted his teeth as she started to saw through his wrist.

* * *

The following morning dawned bright and clear as Ana scrubbed at her eyes, erasing the tears that she cried last night as she woke up to the first day without her sister. She knew Daryl would most likely be back sometime today and he was going to be extremely pissed about his brother being left behind. Hell Ana was still livid at everyone who came back without both of them.

They call themselves a group, a family, but as soon as they got the chance to prove that, they all ran like scared rabbits. She knew Merle Dixon was an ass, but he is Daryl's brother and a decent human being when not high on drugs. It had taken a few weeks for her to realize that both Dixon brothers were good people deep down.

The rest of the group had written off both brothers as nothing more than stupid hicks, but over the weeks Ana and Eliza had seen something in them that they didn't show to everyone else. They cared deeply for each other and anyone they considered family. Neither man was dumb. They might not be college educated, but they had skills that were invaluable to this rag-tag group. Skills that none of the rest of them had.

Ana got dressed and walked down the steps of her camper. She couldn't wait till Daryl got back. Once he got back they could go get their family members together. Rick started to walk over to Ana, but she turned her back on him and started to walk in the opposite direction towards the quarry. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him yet. She hadn't made it very far when she heard screams coming from the woods surrounding the camp.

Everyone ran towards the screams as the children were running towards their parents. Ana ran past all the kids and into the clearing where a walker was feasting on the neck of a deer with three arrows sticking out of it. The walker staggered to its feet and turned to the group of men that surrounded it. Shane grabbed Ana's arm and pushed her behind him, as Rick landed the first blow to the walker. That started a beating frenzy that ended as Dale chopped off the walkers head.

"That's the first one we've seen up here." Dale said as he looked at the decapitated walker. Jim commented, "Their running out of food in the cities." as he scratched the back of his head.

Rustling was heard as everyone's attention snapped to the trees, looking for the source of the noise. Shane brought his shotgun up as Daryl walked into the clearing. He stopped short as Shane sighed and lowered the gun. Daryl caught sight of the gnawed on deer and started kicking the lifeless body of the walker cursing it as he did.

"Daryl, stop it." Ana said as she walked up to him placing her hand on his arm.

"Think we can salvage any of it?" he asked her as he shook her hand off. She shook her head, "I'm not eating anything that's been chewed on by one of those things."

"Probably right. Got some squirrel though. It'll have to do." He said as he walked into camp calling for Merle.

"Hold up Daryl. I need to talk to you." Shane said as he walked up to him.

"'Bout what?"

"Merle. There was a problem in Atlanta." Shane said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Oh for heaven's sake. If you guys won't tell him I will. Merle and Eliza got left behind in Atlanta. Officer Dumbass here handcuffed Merle to a metal pipe on the roof of the department store and then they ran like rabbits, leaving Eliza with him. As far as anyone knows they are both still up on that roof." Ana said as she jerked her head toward Rick.

Daryl turned to Rick, "That true?"

Rick nodded, causing Daryl to go into a rage and attack him. Shane wrestled him to the ground with a choke hold. Rick got into his face asking if they could discuss things calmly which Daryl agreed to as Shane released him.

"Where are they so's I can go get them?" he asked as he ran the back of his hand over his eyes.

"I'm going back. I'll take you there." Rick said as he looked at his wife. Lori shook her head and went inside Dale's RV.

"Ana are you going with them?" asked Amy as she looked at Ana.

Ana shook her head, "I want too, but I'm more likely to slow them all down. I'm not in the mood to play nice with any of them. Besides Daryl will bring them both back." She said as she walked towards the quarry, while Rick and Daryl got ready to leave.

* * *

Ana was sitting down by the quarry watching Andrea, Amy, Carol, and Jacqui washing the clothes. Ana knew she should go over and help them, but she couldn't bring herself to move from her spot by the water. She was too worried about Eliza, Merle and the group who went back after them.

"Come help us out Ana." called out Amy as she spotted the older woman.

"Yeah, it'll help take your mind off of everything." Jacqui said as she set down another basket full of dirty clothes. She looked back up at Ed who was sitting on the tail gate of the car smoking a cigarette. "I am seriously beginning to question the division of labor here. Since when did we get stuck doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?"

"The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy quipped as she looked back at Jacqui. Ana laughed as she stood up and walked over to the group of women. "Ok give me something to wash. At least time will go faster if I'm busy right?"

Carol handed Ana several items of clothing that had been washed and scrubbed. "These need to be rinsed and wrung out." Ana nodded as accepted the clothes. She sat down next to Jacqui and started to rinse the soap out of the clothes.

"You know I really do miss my old Maytag." Carol said as she scrubbed some clothes on an old wash board.

"I miss my Benz , my sat nav." Andrea said as she scrubbed a shirt.

"I miss my coffee maker with that dual drip filter and built in grinder honey." Jacqui said as she wrung out a shirt.

"My computer and texting." Amy said.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea said as everyone laughed.

"Me too." Said Carol as she looked back at her husband and then back at Andrea.

"Me three." piped up Ana as everyone started laughing even harder. This brought Ed down to investigate.

"What's going on here?" he demanded to know.

"Just swapping war stories Ed." Andrea said. Ed just looked at her and then focused his eyes on Carol. Ana looked up and smiled, "You need something Ed? Or are you just bored? I mean you're more than welcome to help us clean your clothes."

"You need to mind your own business and get back to work. This ain't no comedy club." He said.

"Well excuse us for trying to be sociable and make the most of a bad situation." Ana said as she stood up to face Ed. He sneered at her and turned to Carol, "Let's go. You don't need to be around these people." Carol stood up and started to walk over to Ed, when Ana grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you Ed." Andrea said as she stood up next to Ana.

"Leave it alone. It doesn't matter." Carol said as she tried to walk around Ana and Andrea. Ana turned to her, "You don't have to go with him. Hell, the world as we know it is over. You can leave his sorry abusive ass. No one would blame you." Ana said.

Carol shook her head as Ed grabbed her arm after shoving Andrea out of the way. "We are leaving now if you know what's good for you."

"Why does she need to go with you? So she can show up with fresh bruises later? We've all seen them. You don't fool us Ed. We all know what kind of man you are." Jacqui said as she glared at Ed.

"Just cause all ya'll are college-educated coozes doesn't mean you're better than me." Ed said as he pulled Carol away from the group of women. Andrea gasped as Ana threw a punch that caught Ed by surprise catching him in the mouth. He dropped Carol's arm as he threw a punch at Ana, but missed her and caught Carol in the mouth instead dropping her to the ground. All the women started screaming as they gathered around Carol to check on her, bringing Shane over to investigate. Ed went to grab Ana by the hair, but Shane grabbed him instead. He pulled Ed away from the women and threw him to the ground and started beating him to a bloody pulp.

Ana ran over to Shane and pulled him off of Ed before he killed him. Shane rounded on Ana in a rage and almost punched her before he realized who it was. Ana walked over to Ed and kicked him in the side saying as she did, "Leave your wife and daughter alone. I see any more bruises on either of them, I'll kill you myself."

Ana stalked away from Ed as Carol threw herself on him crying and apologizing to him. Shane walked over to Ana and grabbed her arm dragging her away from everyone else. "Want to tell me what that was all about?" he asked.

"It was nothing. Just a disagreement." Ana muttered as she pulled her arm out of Shane's grip.

"Just a disagreement huh? Didn't look like a disagreement. Just because your pissed about your sister doesn't mean you can start fights with men twice your height." Shane said as he stared at Ana. Ana shrugged and turned away from Shane.

"Wasn't just my sister that was left behind you know. I know you don't like Merle Dixon or Daryl, but let me ask you something. Could you do what they do? As well as they do it? Can you provide food for this group?" Ana asked as she walked away from Shane and back towards camp.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry it's taken me soooo long to update, but I got writers block. I want to thank MsWolfGirl for beta reading this for me and I hope everyone likes it. Hopefully the next chapter will come faster this time.**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

Eliza and Merle worked their way down from the roof and into another store with a kitchen. Merle had taken out two walkers while Eliza busied herself looking for something to stop his stump from bleeding. After she had cut his hand off, she used his shirt to wrap the wound. Now the shirt was soaked and doing little to stop the bleeding. Once they reached the kitchen, Eliza found several cans of Sterno, a lighter, and a steak weight. Lighting the Sterno cans, she held the weight over the flames to get it red hot.

Merle grimaced as he realized what Eliza was planning to do, but he unwrapped the shirt from his stump and held his arm out to her anyway. She grabbed it gently and asked, "You ready?"

Merle nodded as Eliza pressed the hot steak weight to his stump, cauterizing the wound. He gritted his teeth to try to control the pain, but a loud groan escaped his lips. Eliza pulled the weight away, taking some skin with it. The wound started to seep a bit, but mostly stayed sealed. She threw the weight on the stove and removed Merle's belt from his arm. The blood loss and pain proved too much for Merle as he slid down the cabinets and passed out, causing Eliza to panic slightly.

"Come on Merle. Wake up. I can't get out of here without you. I ain't dragging your ass out of here either." Eliza said as she shook Merle to get him up. After a couple minutes, she gave up and started looking for a way out of the building while she waited for Merle to wake up. She couldn't find any way out except through the window, but she didn't really want to do that.

Eliza walked back over to Merle and shook him again. "Damn it you stupid redneck! Git your ass up! We need to go before more geeks get here." Eliza smiled as Merle flipped her off and slowly opened his eyes. She helped him up and over to the window.

"No other way out. I've looked. Think you'll be ok to get down the fire escape?" Eliza asked as she wrapped her flannel shirt around her hand and smashed a hole in the window pane. Merle grunted an affirmation as she pushed as much glass out of the window as possible, creating a hole big enough for Merle to fit through.

Eliza helped Merle to squeeze through the window and followed through after him. They quickly made their way down the fire escape and out onto the street. Eliza ran to the end of the alley and looked left and right. Seeing no walkers, she motioned Merle to follow her to the left.

They quickly and quietly made their way through several alleys and streets of Atlanta until they came to the abandoned rail yard. They made their way through the fence and set off towards the quarry. They didn't make it very far before they were surrounded by several men with guns.

* * *

"We have to walk from here." Glenn said as he stopped the box truck next to an abandoned rail yard. Daryl opened the back of the truck and jumped out with T-Dog right behind him. Glenn pulled open the wire fence so everyone could slip through.

"Merle and Eliza or the guns first?" asked Rick. Daryl looked back in disgust as he snapped, "Merle first. We ain't even having this discussion."

"We are." Rick said emphatically as he turned back to Glenn.

"Merle and Eliza first. Guns would mean doubling back." Glenn said as they ran to the department store. They all ran inside as Rick spied a female walker stumbling around between them and the stairs. He motioned to Daryl to take her out. Daryl walked closer to the walker as he raised his crossbow and put a bolt through her head saying, "Damn you're one ugly skank."

The rest of them rushed past the walker as Daryl pulled the bolt out of her head with a sickening squish. They ran up the stairs to the roof where T-Dog used bolt cutters to cut the padlock on the chain. Daryl kicked the door open once the lock was cut.

"Merle!" He hollered as he burst through the now open door. They all ran out onto the roof and stopped short as they saw the roof was empty.

Daryl ran down to the pipe and started screaming "No!" Everyone took in the scene before them. Lying where Eliza and Merle should have been was the hacksaw, blade bloodied, a pool of blood and Merle's right hand. Daryl whipped his crossbow up and pointed it at T-Dog's head with an angry grunt, causing Rick to cock his gun and point it at Daryl's head.

"Put it down Daryl. I will shoot you. I don't care if every walker in Atlanta hears it. I won't hesitate." Rick said harshly. Daryl fumed as he contemplated if Rick was serious or not. After a moment, he lowered his crossbow and asked T-Dog, "You got a do-rag or something?" T-Dog reached into a pocket of his cargo pants and pulled out a blue bandana and handed it to Daryl. He walked over to the hand and wrapped it up carefully.

"Ain't that a bitch." He muttered as he looked over the now covered appendage. He motioned Glenn closer and put the wrapped up hand into his backpack before turning back to the pool of blood.

"Must have used a tourniquet. Maybe his belt? Be more blood if they didn't." Daryl said following the blood trail.

"Probably right. Let's go. We need to find them." Rick said as they followed behind Daryl, across the roof and to another door that had been kicked open. They continued to follow Merle's blood trail through an office building, taking out a couple walkers along the way.

Daryl was making comments about how tough Merle was, while Rick was telling him not to be so sure. The blood trail ended at a kitchen where they found several cans of Sterno that were lit along with Merle's belt.

Rick picked up a steak weight and grimaced, "Skin. They cauterized the stump. Smart."

"Told you nothing could kill Merle, but Merle." Daryl said.

"Yeah well he's had help now hasn't he? Eliza's been with him. I doubt he'd have made it this far without her." T-Dog said as Daryl turned on him.

"What would you know about it? You left him to die on that roof. Anyway they busted out of this death trap."

"Stop it. We can help you search a few blocks, but only if we keep a level head." Rick said diffusing the situation between T-Dog and Daryl.

"Only if we get those guns first. I ain't walking around Atlanta with just my good intentions." T-Dog said, causing Daryl to throw him a glare. Rick nodded and turned to Glenn. "How do we do this? You're the most familiar with the area."

* * *

Amy and Andrea were in the middle of the quarry fishing with Dale's canoe and fishing gear. Ana stood watching them from next to her camper. She had just gotten her clean laundry back from Carol and was going to put it away. Everyone was trying to help her keep her mind off the fact that Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl were back in Atlanta rescuing Eliza and Merle.

Ana was hoping that Andrea and Amy would bring back a nice haul of fish when they got back. She was getting really tired of squirrel. She had just turned to walk into her camper when she heard her name.

"Ana." She turned to see Dale on top of his camper. She smiled at the older man, "What?"

"Can you come up here and take watch for a few minutes?" he asked.

"Yeah, just let me put these clothes inside and I'll be up." Ana said as she walked into her camper and put her clothes down on her bed. She left the camper and climbed up on top of Dale's RV. "What's wrong?" Dale pointed to the hill above the camp where Jim was furiously digging. "I want to go see what's going on with him, but didn't want to leave the camp unguarded."

"Ok. Go see what's up with him." Ana said as she sat down. Dale climbed off the RV and headed up the hill towards Jim. He stopped and watched Jim for a few minutes.

"What are you doing Jim?" Dale asked, but Jim ignored him and continued digging. Dale watched him for a few more minutes before walking back down the hill where Andrea and Amy had just handed off their stringers of fish. Everyone was excited for the fish fry that night.

"Hey, I don't want to alarm anyone but we may have a problem with Jim." Dale said as he looked back at the man still digging determinedly. Ana grabbed a bottle of water from Dale's RV and headed up the hill to Jim, everyone else falling into a ragged line behind her.

"Jim. You need to stop. Come drink some water." Ana said.

She stood watching him dig for a moment before reaching out to hand him the water bottle. He ignored her and continued to dig undeterred. She watched him and took a good look at what he was digging. The sizes looked familiar, like she should know what he was digging. She was slowly struck with realization. Graves. He was digging graves. Ana walked back towards the group.

"He's digging graves. Shane you talk to him, maybe he'll listen to you." Ana whispered to him as she turned back to Jim. Shane nodded as he walked over to him. Shane tried talking to Jim, tried to reason with him to get him to stop digging. He even told him he'd help him dig later when it wasn't so hot out. Lori told him he was scaring the kids, he wouldn't listen to any of them. Shane grabbed his arm to stop him, but he swung the shovel at Shane's head. Shane ducked and grabbed Jim and wrestled him to the ground where Jim started sobbing as he told them how he survived and his family didn't. Ana walked over to him, knelt next to him as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry, but it's not your fault. You did what you had to." Ana said. Jim nodded, but didn't look like he really believed her.

"Why were you digging these?" Shane asked.

"Had a dream. Don't remember what it was about. Just knew I had to do this." Jim said as Ana help him stand up and led him down to the campsite and got him settled under a tree in the shade. Shane grabbed some rope and walked back over to them. Ana looked up at Shane and then down at the rope in his hands.

"Is that really necessary? I don't think he's going to hurt anyone." Ana asked. Shane shrugged as he started to tie Jim to the tree. "Can't take any chances. He might snap and attack the camp. I can't take that risk to Lori and Carl." He said as he finished tying Jim to the tree and walked away. Ana looked over to where Lori and Carol had set up a make-shift school and were trying to teach Sophia and Carl. She knew Shane was sleeping with Lori, but it was starting to worry her about his slight obsession with his best friend's wife and child.


	6. Author's Note

Hello my fellow fan-fiction writers and readers. This is Pastel Shades and I want to let everyone that I have not dropped off the face of the earth, but I got a new job in late September and have been crazy busy since then, but I have not forgotten all my wonderful readers and reviewers.

I am going to be taking down each of my stories and re-writing them to make them better. I just wanted everyone to have the chance to bookmark my profile so they know when I start to repost the updated stories.

The first story I am going to be updating and reposting more to will be my wrestling story: _To Be Or Not To Be._ This is at the moment supposed to be a Dean Ambrose story, but as I've been writing it I find myself picturing another Superstar with my OC. As I re-write this story we will see where it goes.

The next story I will start to update is my Boondock Saints story: _Saints Alive._ I have decided to change my main OC for this story. I no longer want to use the same OC for both this story and my Walking Dead story. After the re-write Annabelle Mason will be only in my Walking Dead story.

The last story I will be updating is my Walking Dead story: _Kindred Spirits._ This is the story that I feel needs the most work and will be hopefully better than ever. I am going use less of the actual episodes in my chapters and more of my own imagination while still trying to follow the basic timeline and storylines.

Well that's about it, I hope that after I start updating these stories I don't lose any readers, but that I gain even more. I will start taking down my stories next Friday which will be November 8th. I hope to have the first chapter up by Monday November 11th, but my mother is having surgery that day and I might not be able to get the chapter up, but if not the 11th, I will get it up on Tuesday the 12th.

Thanks for reading,

Pastel Shades


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